Today has been a day of reflection and remembering for me. In the past 10 years I have mostly tried to avoid remembering what had happened and had been pretty successful at merely blocking it out of my mind, pretending, for the most part, that it didn't effect me. The truth is, I think it really did. In a positive way. I had an experience with the Lord that day that was faith promoting. I KNOW that through the spirit I was protected that day. I felt like I should share it in hopes that it can inspire someone else....
It was April 20th, and I was a month away from Graduating in the Class of 1999 at Columbine High School. I was in my Foods Class as so many of us Seniors were. The lunch bell rang. Typically I walk down to the commons area of the school and meet up with 3 of my girlfriends and we go to the Bagel place for lunch. I always drive. My car was purposefully parked in the 4th spot in the Senior parking lot.
For some reason that I wasn't aware of at the time, I was in a huge hurry to get to my car. I remember it like it just happened. I was walking with a friends from my Foods Class Jaylene Sauter. I remember her saying to me that I was walking way too fast and that she couldn't keep up. I remember making the decisions, for no apparent reason, to take the side door of the school out to my car that day, and to not even go down to the commons to tell my friends that I would not be joining them for lunch. It is not at all typical for me to use these doors. In fact this may have been the first time all year that I went to lunch in this manner.
So, I rudly blew off my girls and rushed to my car. I got in. As quickly as I could I turned the car on, and began to make my way out of the parking lot. There was a little drive that divided the juinior lot from the senior one. As I was starting through this drive there they were. The two wierd kids who wore trench coats right in front of me. Politely, I stopped my car and waved them across, right in front of my car. I drove on. Little did I know, the second they got across, right in front of my car, they began shooting. Half a dozen kids were killed in that very parking lot those very same minutes.
I was oblivious to it all . I went home, ate really quickly, and headed back to school to not be late for my next class. As I was approaching the school there were kids running in the street toward smy car, some of them screaming somethnig about a gun. I grabbed as many kids sd I could fit into my little hatchback and drove away as fast as it would go, my heart pounding, mt hands shaking. It was the first of many of the most frightening and paranoid moments I have ever lived through.
I KNOW without any doubt, that it was the spirit of God that was literally pushing me out as fast as it could to get me out of there literally within seconds of the face of death. The Lord protected me that day. And I could not be more grateful.
I am just now beginning to realize and to face, with understanding, what really happened that day to so many of my friends and my softball coach, Coach Sanders. There will always be a special place in my heart for them. I am making this day, a day to remember my blessing.
Lindsey holder her baby Liz at Nauvoo 111.
Laurie, her sister Jessi, and I at the Bookstore at BYU-Idaho.
Lindsey and the Babies at Deseret Book Store.
Linds and Dee, classic.
Laurie and I in front of the Taylor Building where we used to go to church.
Old apartment, old poses.
The original 6, the girls at Nauvoo 111.
I had such a fantastic trip! All six of us girls that were roommates at Ricks' College. Its been 8 years since we were ALL together. Everyone was still exactly the same, never missing a beat. I love you girls so much, thank you for being my best friends!
